A breathtaking celestial spectacle unfolded over a wild beach in Lufeng City, Shanwei, Guangdong Province, on the evening of August 23, 2025. While photographing the Milky Way, a photography enthusiast accidentally documented a rare "blue jet" lightning phenomenon—a luminous blue column piercing through golden storm clouds, resembling a cosmic signal from Earth.
The "blue jet," a transient luminous event (TLE), occurred near a penetrative convective cloud top. According to Yang Yuexin, a senior lightning engineer from the Meteorological Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, such phenomena are exceptionally rare, with a probability of occurrence of less than 0.01 percent. "Global sightings of 'blue jets' are extremely scarce, with fewer than ten cases documented annually. This appears to be the clearest recording of a blue jet in China to date," Yang noted.
"Blue jets" belong to the family of upper-atmospheric electrical discharges, alongside red sprites and green "ghost sprites." Key distinctions include:
Red Sprites: At the top, there is a columnar or beam-like luminous region, typically red in color, which continuously extends downward from the top and can reach an altitude of 70 kilometers. At the bottom, it gradually transforms into a blue, curly, filamentous structure, resembling hanging ribbons, with a width ranging from 5 to 10 kilometers. It can extend downward to an altitude of 40 kilometers, resembling jellyfish or carrots, with red tops (600–700 nm nitrogen emission) and blue tendrils (300–400 nm) below.
Green Ghosts: Rarer still, emitting green hues due to oxygen interactions.
Prior to this, the most notable TLE sighting in China occurred in May 2022, when photographers captured red sprites over Xizang's Lake Puma Yumco. These events remain elusive due to their brief duration (under 1/30th of a second) and unpredictable locations.
The Guangdong "blue jet" adds to global scientific understanding of high-atmosphere electrical activities. Such phenomena, though fleeting, offer insights into atmospheric physics and Earth's interactions with space weather.
Author: Jiang Chang
Editor: Huang Qini, James Campion, Shen He
Video Source: MonsterB
Photo: cctv.com
